Former TSA agent gets two years in New York drug case

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A former federal airport security screener was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for helping a suspected drug dealer evade security and smuggle money through a New York airport.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara dismissed a defense attorney’s explanation that Minnetta Walker was helping a trusted friend and sentenced the former screener at the high end of federal guidelines. He told Walker she had let her country down and violated the oath that federal employees take to protect the country from criminals. “It’s the exact same oath I took,” Arcara said, “an oath that means a lot.”

Walker was a nine-year veteran of the Transportation Safety Administration and worked as a behavior detection officer at Buffalo Niagara International Airport when she was arrested last March.

Court documents describe Walker steering alleged drug kingpin Derek Frank past document screeners and other security officers so he could fly under aliases while carrying thousands of dollars in cash on drug-buying trips from Buffalo to Arizona. Frank has pleaded not guilty to pending drug charges.

As part of a plea agreement in August, Walker acknowledged alerting two of Frank’s alleged associates that they were under surveillance at the airport in a cellphone call intercepted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Baumgarten said it was the special training Walker received as a behavior analyst that allowed her to spot the undercover surveillance operation. “Thank God nothing worse happened than what we know of,” Baumgarten said in asking Arcara to send Walker to prison.

Walker, a single mother of an 18-year-old daughter, cried as she told Arcara that she regretted what she’d done. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, I swear,” said Walker, who worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 18 years before joining the TSA. “Please don’t take me away from my daughter.”

Her attorney said Frank had been a friend and confidante to Walker and that he’d helped her cope with the death of her father. “She trusted this individual,” attorney James DeMatteo said, “probably trusted him too much.”

But Arcara said Walker had helped Frank evade security on multiple trips for more than a year and that her intent went beyond helping a friend speed past inconvenient security measures. “It wasn’t an isolated incident,” Arcara said. “I have a hard time believing it was doing a favor for a trusted friend, particularly when she tipped off others.”

Prosecutors have not said if Walker, who has said she was paid about $40,000 a year at the TSA, received anything in return for her actions.